Corporate Downsizing and Its Impact on Human Resources Management in Libraries and Information Centres (Published)
Corporate downsizing has become a strategy of choice by a multitude of organizations worldwide. The prime impetus for most downsizing activities is the desire to attain higher levels of efficiency, effectiveness, profitability, and competitiveness. The adoption of downsizing has shown to have considerable impact on the organization and its many stakeholders. There is strong evidence suggesting that the consequences of downsizing are persistently negative. Indeed, numerous organizations around the world embarking upon downsizing have failed to accomplish their highly anticipated objectives. It has also been shown that the execution of downsizing is not confined to economic and organizational realms, but has profound after-effects upon all stakeholders. Corporate downsizing continues to be a major strategy used by organizations to cope with a dynamic and turbulent global marketplace. A fundamental assumption made by executives is that this strategy improves the financial health of the corporation. Organizations go for downsizing to increase their efficiency and reduce costs but it may result in dissatisfaction among employees. This paper therefore investigates the perceived impact of corporate downsizing on human resource management with particular reference to library and information centres.
Keywords: Corporate Downsizing, HRM, Information Centres, Library